Park pictures

Brothers for life

Luke and Sam are growing up and starting to really interact with each other. It is fun to see each of their personalities working together. They are good friends but don't always show it! Here are a few of our daily conversations and life happenings.

I often refer to Luke as "brother" when talking to Sam. "Sammy, Go play with brother." and whenever I refer to Sam as brother when talking to Luke, Luke gets an upset, confused look and says, "No. I'm brother! He's Sammy!"

Luke always refers to the boys bedroom as HIS bedroom. "Oh, Sammy is sleeping in MY room."

Luke gets to watch TV during Sam's naps. It's one of the only activities that won't wake Sam up! So, whenever Sam wakes up, I tell Luke "Last episode! Now we can play with Sam!" Lately, Luke has been replying angrily "I DON'T WANT TO PLAY WITH SAM ANY MORE!!!"  because he just wants to keep watching TV. Then, Sam gets up and they play happily together.

Luke watches a lot of Curious George on TV (That is pretty much the only thing we has watched since Christmas, so he is exposed to a lot of daily life activities from that show!) Any time we do something or see something that he saw on TV, he says, "I was watching TV like that!"

Sammy is very tolerant of his brother and is typically the one that is causing the ruckus! He LOVES to knock over Luke's blocks, pillow. or whatever Luke is building at the time. Luke has a hard time with that and whines and cries and yells. If he's feeling patient, he tells Sammy in a very grown up way, "No, Sammy, No!" enunciating each letter very clearly, "NnnOo!" Does that make sense? It's the way I always say no when i am very serious and trying to teach them that it is not safe or whatever. It's cute to see Luke do that too! Even though he's very upset!

A few weeks ago, we were at the WIC office and Sam was looking at a baby in a car seat. I asked the mother if he was okay, and she was fine with it, but Luke came up and stood behind Sammy and watched his every move to make sure he wasn't going to hurt/touch that baby! Luke totally didn't trust him! Then, the second Sam reached down and touched the baby, Luke grabbed him and carried him away! hhahaha.

I really hope that I am raising them right to be best friends for life. I love them both and I want them to love each other!

-Emily

Learning Frustration

I am just a little frustrated with Luke right now. He does not know his letters at all and doesn't know his numbers all that well. I try to be a good mom and teach him the basics, but I thought that by know, he would have those down! We bought him a letters puzzle and a numbers puzzle when he was like 18 months, he watches Leap frog letter/number shows fairly often, and I've sung the abc songs and counted EVERYTHING a million times. We have practiced learning these things a lot and I just am not sure what to do in order for him to care about them. He counts everything out of order (1,7,4,9,10!) and sings the ABCs out of order/ mumbles through most of the song.

Today I tried to play a game where you race across the room to find the correct letter. We cut out each letter and put them in order on a mat. Then I was on the couch and would ask him to run and get the . For example, I'd say "Go and find the "a"! "A" makes the Aah sound, like apple, ant. "A!" and he'd run over and bring back some other letter. He really didn't know! I thought for sure he would be able to do it! We did it on a smaller scale a few weeks back where I'd pull out 3 letters and he'd have to find the correct letter from those 3 and he was able to do it then. But I think that I would give him clues, like "this letter is purple!" if he hesitated. Then he knew right away. (He is an expert on colors)

I do think that with the numbers, he might be bored with just counting, but I am not sure because he has never really shown me that he has mastered the skill. He is kind of of 50/50 on answering number questions correctly.

Before I leave you thinking that my son is way behind on everything, I will do a little bragging to bring him back up! I feel this is necessary because I am feeling down and I don't think he is dumb; he is just interested in other things.

Luke is a fabulous artist and works with his hands really well. He colors pretty close to in the lines, he draws people, shapes (can name the shapes too) and other creative pictures. He loves to paint and knows a lot about colors, can name all the basic colors and even knows a little about mixing colors. He has learned how to cut things out and is pretty good at that. He likes to cut and paste and does it without making a huge mess. He is also good with play dough and other crafts. He is good at organizing things and separating things. He is very good at imaginative play. He loves building houses out of anything (blocks, boxes, toys, chairs, pillows, blankets, etc) and pretending there's a fox/wolf/bear/lion/river outside and we have to get inside.

I know his little brain is working and he is learning every day. I am proud of Luke in every way possible and I don't want it to seem that I am not. He is awesome.

But I would like some advice on how to motivate him to learn his letters and numbers. I could also use advice on how to potty train him at night, while your giving advice. We've been struggling with that for a long time as well!

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have for me!!

Happy B-day Gorgeous!

To my dear loving Emily,

Happy birthday my sweetie! What a special day. I'm so blessed to be married to the person of my dreams, literally though.... the person of my dreams! You are everything I ever dreamed of and much more.

You are so patient, no only with the kids but also with me, there is much I need to learn from you.

You are a great example of motherhood. You are indeed an amazing mom that is teaching our children good values and basically everything  People ask me how do I do it through dental school with 2 kids, and I tell them, I don't know, but you should ask my wife how she does it with 2 kids and no husband! You are a great support for me and I love you even more for it. Thank you

Having you in my life dear Emily has truly brought me more stability, purpose and far more happiness to my life that I ever imagined. Very often just by looking at you and our kids and just get this feeling of excitement inside me (that's probably why I'm always kissing you). I love you, and I just want to make sure we celebrate your birthday like we're suppose to. You are the most important person in my life, and even though at times (most of the time) it seems I'm submerge in "dental school stuff" I know my priorities and my biggest blessing... YOU.

What a great cook we have at home, I even have friends at school asking to be on my "meal plan". Thank you Em, I know it is not easy but I for sure appreciate it. You are my better half, my everything.

I love  you

Francisco  (El guapo)